Through the adventures of life; we all need support. As I discover my place in the Toronto cycling world; this blog is going to be a place to record the journey. From the beginning to the end, we'll see together if SuperGo Sam can ride again.

As I'm sitting here waiting for my breakfast to digest before my brick work out today (2 mile run Z4 / 18 min bike Z4) X 2, I thought I should update this thing because it's almost time for the 2013 Duathlon World Championships! Apparently it's a mere 504 hours, but who's counting.

Last night Triathlon Canada hosted their 'Pre-Worlds Meet & Greet' (presented by Steam Whistle & Flight Centre) and it was a great time of getting to connect and know some folks who are going to be racing in Ottawa - even though I didn't win any of the draw prizes :(. A big push for the night was to qualify for the 2014 World Tri Champs in Edmonton. Apparently as the host nation, Canada can qualify 1200 athletes for the Olympic / Sprint Triathlon Champs - that's a HUGE team. Who knows, maybe it will be an incentive to get back in the pool. Apparently there's going to be almost 300 at Du Worlds in Ottawa, and almost 500 at Tri Worlds in London, ENG. (very interesting how the 'home race' in Ontario, that should be cheaper to travel to is so small).

Lately my training motivation has begun to wane a little. Tired from life, tired legs, ... I needed a boost. Hopefully that came last night in the form of a red bag with my TEAM CANADA uniform in it! It's still in the bag as I wanted to wait for Linda to get home before I opened it. There was a huge storm yesterday and she ended up getting stuck at work until 0130. Lightning striking the city, 7,000 people without power, tornado warnings, it was nuts. Here's a photo from Simon Whitfield's downtown hotel of the lightning.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Rarely do I actually write a "race review" - but this race was pretty awesome. John McKibbon and his team did a great job hosting the event and throwing in a few extra perks for those who made the trip out to beautiful little "Belle River". As this race was the 2013 Ontario Duathlon Championships with qualifying spots to go to the 2014 World Duathlon Championships Pontevedra Spain; it was definitely worth the trip.

Registration:
Pretty straight forward - Downloadable form if you want to do it old school.
Send it in, fax it, drop it off at Running Factory - totally covered.
Or register online like the rest of us with EventsOnline :). The fun thing with that is you get to see who else has registered.

Traveling TO the Race:
My wife works for WestJet and got off work a little late. It was 9pm when we left Toronto and headed to Windsor for the night. #RaceRoadTrip

Race Morning:Breakfast: 5:15AM Avocado, grapefruit, (2) two-bit brownies, 2 cups
water, banana, Kashi granola bar. Needless to say my pre-race nutrition
wasn't the best. Rest til 6:45.Depart Hotel: 7:15AM depart for the short 20 minute drive.
Showing up at the race was quite beautiful as it was at the corner of a park and the Marina. It was a great starting point as there were; indoor bathrooms, great play structure for the kids, splashpad... (I was more thinking post-race rinse, but it made for a great "family race day experience" to watch mommy or daddy run).

Today, my wife was beyond incredible (as per usual) in helping me get race ready. Leaving in a rush, I forgot *everything*. She helped me get my bike set-up (unpacked from trunk, skewers on, water bottle added), purchased last minute plain-GU from Running Factory (#lifesaver), told me to go warm up... she's amazing!Race Start: 8:30AM
It was a small group, I think 25 of us doing the Olympic Duathlon (10k run / 40k bike / 5k run). A very small group considering it was the Ontario Du Champs - but there were many more racing the sprint distance (also the provincial champs).
The super speedy local Lionel Sanders was there to lead the entire race. Kevin Smith, Canada's long time duathlon pro was also in the ranks, and a bunch of other surprisingly quick folks.

10k Run (44:54 / 13.3kph)Knowing I had next to no warm up and needed to qualify in the top 3 for my age group to get a slot to worlds, I started a bit conservative, treating the first 2.5k as a warm-up. Which was good in theory, until the 2.5k turn-around point where there was the wind in your face on the way back :p Great course, relatively flat, a nice little foot bridge to run over, multiple times. I ran the whole time by myself. The speed rabbits went off and stayed away; there was a "chase" group about 10 minutes back, and then me, by myself another 10 minutes back :p My goal was sub 42 (it's June), but with no warm-up, I'd take a 45.

Too Fast For Photos (apparently)

38.7k Bike (1:09:07 / 33.8kph)
I'd like to say the way there was fast and the way back was windy... However Lionel blitzed the course in 59:xx so there's no room for excuses. It was amazing watching Lionel race. There wasn't a moment I didn't see him without a grimace on his face; he was working hard the whole time; so inspirational - for 25; the dude's a B E A S T. Pretty straight forward course with a couple corners, train tracks and a whole lot of wind. The volunteers and Police on the course were great. One police officer was even sweeping his corner - who does that? Ever? I yelled, "thank you" every time on the way by, these course volunteers were truly top notch. The only thing that really sucked besides the wind was my Torhans Aero 30. Darn thing splashed me and my bike every time we crossed the train tracks (details discussed further in my Bell River Race Bike review).

5K Run (23:10 / 13kph)What can I say; when Linda told me I was in second for my age category; I went on the defensive and didn't really push. Shortly after a nice older guy named "Paul" - a local a lot of people cheered for - passed me up and I didn't have the wheels to stick. This was my hardest work out of the year, and I had a 4 hour drive home and wanted to save my energy for a sprint finish to win my age category if needed as I knew I didn't have the wheels to play keep-a-way. After the turn-around, I realized there was no-one behind us. As in no one for another 13 minutes! This gave me some motivation to push the final 2.3k and see what was left in the tank.

Near the finish, I was hot on Paul's heels but didn't really want to sprint an old man to the finish line. Honest, these are the things I think about when racing :p So I slowed up a bit, cooled down the last eight hundred meters, grabbed two cups of water from the final age station, then made it look good in the finishing shoot. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't jogging, but I wanted to ensure the announcer had time to read Paul's name, take a breath and then mine as I crossed the finish line. (What can I say, it's the little things)

Post Race E v e r y r a c e should have Subway as a sponsor. OMG - Subway macadamia nut cookies, ham and turkey breast sandwiches that you could add your own toppings to... it was AMAZING, and of course the chocolate milk!
As it turned out; Kevin Smith was racing 'pro' - so I won my age category :p This meant a little plaque and a $20 gift certificate to

Areas To Improve:Body Marking -Good Lord - they had the fattest markers ever, race number on both arms, both hands, age on one calf, race on the other... I looked like I belonged on Du-Ink!Awards - they had it set up so you walked up and got your award after results were posted. I *really* liked this, but it was a bit of a slow process. Nice to get to chat in line with folks though.

The Trip Home
Was my absolute favorite part! Belle River Source for Sports gave gift certificates to all of the age group winners, so we just had to go shopping. Linda ended up walking out with a pair of Nike Flex Trainer IIIs (I told you she was awesome!).
Then, on the way home we stopped for lunch at a food bus, followed by another detour to Point Peele National Park. We got through the park just in time to catch a shuttle to the point where we walked barefoot in the sand to the very tip. Hopefully more pics to come - but here's one of a kiss at the southern most tip of Canada!

We learned that I'm a *much* better rock skipper than Linda ;) and that race road-trips are SO much fun when done together!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

With the bike being 40k of a 55km race; it's a pretty important factor. When racing "age group" - you don't get the ability to draft so aerodynamics are increasingly inportant.

Most people that are 'fast' race on a time trial bike, however not having endless amounts of racing capita, I choose a road bike with aero properties. Last year I traded in my much loved Fuji Team Issue II (as in the second one I had) for a Scott Foil - in my opinion one of the TOP aero bikes (and Matt Goss makes his look SO fast)

When it comes to TT parts; I don't have a ton to play around with so my bike is pretty much the same as it was for the Toronto Triathlon Festival (bike set-up here - *Photo*)

For the Belle River Triathlon (the 2013 Ontario Duathlon Championships), I tried a few things different from the above photo, but mostly stuck with what works:1) Profile Design Tri Stryke Ti With most of my winter training being on my trainer, I found both of my Fizik saddles where making my 'down there' region fall asleep. Part of this was due to my more aggressive TT position and part of it I just couldn't figure out. The Tri Stryke is my fist dip into the 'cut-out' market. It definitely helped on the trainer, but I could use it to work a bit better to be my go-to race saddle; this partially could be fit, and the fact that I'm in a TT position on a road bike... Very open to feedback and suggestions

2) NO BOTTLES on frame
The Belle River Race was some of the windiest conditions I've ever raced in and as a result the day was a little cooler so I risked riding with just my Torhans30 (which usually isn't quite enouth. My bike + me = +/- 200 lbs so I'm not a lightweight by triathlon standards, but I was feeling blown all over the road and I only had 56mm wheels. The Scott Foil is made to slice through the wind with and without bottles, and due to today's crosswinds I was definitely glad I went without. There was even a bit of Gatorade mix left in my Torhans bottle after finishing the 38k race.

3) Used Torhans30 again... Twice - shame on me.
Last race I mounted my Torhans bottle below my aero bars and didn't have the greatest success.
This time I posted my Torhans to spec, on top (better between the arms positioning, more aero), used rubber non-slip buffers, added my 'rubber-band stabilizer', cut the straw, ... and AGAIN my bike and I took a Gatorade bath, ever.single.bump! The 20 seconds it apparently saves me on the course is not worth the 40 mins it took to clean the frame, and I haven't even started on the brakes or drive train yet. Both caps were on and I even shook it up and down and it held the liquid in great, but on the course, it sucked! To be fair I should have just put duct tape over the fill hole (which I'll do next time) as I didn't have any extra bottles with me to refill it, but SERIOUSLY, this was a major p-off.

Considering building a TriRig BTA system for my next race. I'm usually not wanting to put 'that' much work in, but after how long it took to clean blue Gatorade gunk off my bike... I'm willing to invest!

For my next race I have a special upgrade coming from TriRig.com that I'm excited to debut!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Not wanting to disappoint my Garmin has gotten my butt on the bike more times than I can count (including as soon as I'm done this post). And now that I've decided that, once again, I'm a duathlete, not a cyclist, I'm after something that can switch from 'bike to run' in the same work out.

If you're searching for a cycling computer and stumbled across this; note this is 100% hands down the one to get. It's great for detailed views of power, cadence, speed, ... everything you could want for data. And it's super light weight, easy to read, flexible mounting options; it just doesn't work with a footpod. If I didn't do so much treadmill training (lets face it, I live in Toronto), it would likely stay with me until one of us died.

Purchased in 2011 after I lost my original Edge 500 - it's really that
great. Email me and I'll share my connect.garmin account and you can
see my work outs. Spending a lot more time running and am not using all
of the power options this has. Works great with my Ant+ Powertap.
Firmware fully updated.

Monday, February 11, 2013

All of the above will change with time, and as long as they change the way I want them to... Aug 9-11, 2013 in Ottawa will be a great weekend. Let the training begin :)
Sent on the go via mobile device www.ctftoronto.com